Patrick Cantlay matched Jon Rahm’s birdie on the final hole of the Tour Championship to win the PGA Tour’s title Sunday at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
The birdie gave Cantlay a round of 1-under-par 69 to cap a riveting finishing stretch between the two golfers.
Rahm’s birdie on the hole meant he finished the round with 68, pushing his tournament score to 20 under. Cantlay checked in at 21 under.
Under the format used, Cantlay began the tournament at 10 under, putting him four shots clear of Rahm. He needed every one of those strokes to claim the $15 million top prize.
Cantlay won back-to-back tournaments to complete the PGA Tour season. He’s the FedEx Cup champion for the first time.
Rahm, the U.S. Open champion from Spain and top-ranked golfer in the world, had 16 pars in the last round. He also birdied the fifth hole.
Cantlay, who as the top seed was listed at 10 under when the tournament began Thursday, never trailed, but he sure made it interesting. He was up by two strokes after a birdie on the 16th, but he gave that back with his third bogey of the round on the next hole.
Cantlay notched birdies on both par-5 holes.
Rahm opened the tournament with two rounds of 65 before catching up to Cantlay early in Saturday’s round. Rahm ended up with 68 in the third round, entering Sunday’s play two shots back so the top duo was paired together again.
Kevin Na shot 67 to finish at 16 under for third place. Justin Thomas, the 2017 FedEx Cup champion, was fourth at 15 under after a final-round 70, slipping one spot from the beginning of the round.
Xander Schauffele matched Daniel Berger’s 64 for the best round of the day. That put Schauffele tied for fifth place with Norway’s Viktor Hovland (65) at 14 under.
–Field Level Media